Learning how to bake!!

[funkyfr3sh_]

Hi All,

I'm just starting to experiment with baking. I've made banana chocolate chip muffins that turned out great.

Anyone have any great recipes to share with a novice that are not too difficult.

Thanks!

[jayt90]

James Peterson's book "Baking" is sold at Costco for $27.
Very good directions and descriptive photos.
I'm going to buy it, and it will be my main book for baking.

[Keelie]

Hard to just throw recipes out there without knowing what you like and what you dont like.

Anything you are looking to make?

[ji2o0k]

hey funky.....if you need someone to help "taste-test" your baked goods....I volunteer!!

[UrbanPoet]

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/r...New-York-Style

This guy has some straight forward, but tasty recipes.
This cheese cake turned out really good.

hey funky.....if you need someone to help "taste-test" your baked goods....I volunteer!!

How come you never offer to taste test my baked goods?
I make a pretty damn good cream pie.

[ji2o0k]

How come you never offer to taste test my baked goods?
I make a pretty damn good cream pie.

u sick bro..............I'll eat funky's cherry pie.....baked....any day tho!!

[funkyfr3sh_]

Hard to just throw recipes out there without knowing what you like and what you dont like.

Anything you are looking to make?

That's the thing - I don't really know.

Muffins, cakes & cupcakes), loaves (carrot, banana etc) ...I am looking to try anything ' easy ' ...I'll eat anything haha

[Keelie]

That's the thing - I don't really know.

Muffins, cakes & cupcakes), loaves (carrot, banana etc) ...I am looking to try anything ' easy ' ...I'll eat anything haha

Ok, I have a couple I'll look up for you. Blueberry, sour cream muffings, and banana loaf. Hard to go wrong with either of these and they are really good!

[shannn]

Easy Bake Oven!

lol, I kid, I kid.

[bonterra]

This is a good, easy, basic chocolate cake recipe.

Chocolate Cake

Greased 9 inch square cake pan, bake 325 for 40-50 minutes

1/2 cup of butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cups water

Cream butter until it is soft and creamy and add vanilla while creaming. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat eggs with rotary beater until foamy and add gradually to fat-sugar mixture, beating thoroughly. Mix flour, salt, cream of tartar, baking soda and cocoa and sift 5 or 6 times. Add dry ingredients alternately with combined water and milk, making 3 or 4 additions starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Stir gently & quickly until batter is well blended, but do not overmix. Spread in greased pan, bake at 325-350 for 40-45 minutes. Allow to set 15-20 minutes before taking out of pan.


Icing:
1 cup icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tbsp cocoa, 2 tbsp butter, 1 or 2 tsp of milk or cream. Mix to spreadable consistency, add more milk if needed.

Notes:

If you like, substitute coffee for the water. Buttermilk for milk.

If your pan is a dark colour or glass, use 325, for a lighter pan, use 350.

To tell if a cake is done, use a wooden skewer to poke the centre of the cake, if it comes out with a bit of crumb attached, it's done. Or push on the centre of the cake with your finger, if the cake springs back to shape, done. Chocolate cakes are better underbaked than overbaked. The sides of the cake will also pull away from the pan when fully baked.

[RFDkit]

[QUOTE=bonterra;9648624]This is a good, easy, basic chocolate cake recipe.

Chocolate Cake

Greased 9 inch square cake pan, bake 325 for 40-50 minutes

1/2 cup of butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cups water

QUOTE]

If I want to make a vanilla cake, can I take out the cocoa from the recipe and use white sugar instead of brown?

[scan]

anyone have a really good banana bread recipe?

[joeyjoejoe]

I was forced into a "cookie party" at work a few years ago. Our entire team had to do it. The cookies I made were the most popular. Not bad since my baking resume is: brownies (once) and frozen pizza. It's basically a chocolate cookie with a Rolo piece in the middle of it. I cannot find exact the recipe, but Googling "chocolate Rolo cookies" gave me millions of results. So I'm guessing this has become quite popular.

For some reason when I made it, I couldn't find Rolos anywhere... so I used Hershey Kisses with the caramel filling instead. They work the same, but unravelling all those Kisses was a huge pain!

Oh and the brownies I made turned out really good too. I found a recipe called Mint chocolate brownies. If you're a fan of mint and chocolate, then you got to try this. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocola...es/Detail.aspx

[Dr Butcher]

I've recently become addicted to a few bloggers and their wares:

http://inncuisine.com/

This site has had me drooling over their pics, I haven't tried any of the recipes yet....

[bonterra]

If I want to make a vanilla cake, can I take out the cocoa from the recipe and use white sugar instead of brown?

It might work but it's not the best way to go about it. Baking recipes are balanced formulas, the brown sugar has more moisture in it than white sugar, and cocoa powder is acidic, that's why the recipe calls for baking soda instead of baking powder.

Here's a recipe for a similar sized (small), easy, yellow, vanilla-flavoured cake. It's quick to make and good served with whipped cream and berries or iced with a chocolate icing. Note that it uses baking powder instead of baking soda because the ingredients are less acidic. If you substitute buttermilk, which gives a very nice, tender crumb, see notes for changes to baking powder called for.


2 Egg Yellow Cake

1/3 cup butter
1/2 teasp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour (all purpose)
1/4 teasp. salt
2 1/2 teasp. baking powder
2/3 cups milk

Cream butter, add vanilla and sugar, beat in eggs. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, sift 4 or 5 times. Add dry and milk alternately to butter mixture, begin and end with dry ingredients. Don't overmix.

Bake at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes in a well greased 8 inch square pan. Allow to set 15 minutes before turning out of pan.

My notes: If I use a dark pan I set oven at 325. Sometimes I use buttermilk instead of milk so I use 1 1/2 teasp. baking powder and 1 teasp. baking soda. I don't sift the dry ingredients, just put them in a bowl and whisk well.